Toy Fair 2009: Elmo Tickle Hands and Elmo Live Encore

The Elmo toy you need to know about this year is Elmo Tickle Hands ($30) debuting in August. In order to celebrate Sesame Street’s 40th anniversary, Fisher-Price has engineered a toy that takes two of Elmo’s favorite things, tickling and dancing, and “puts the Tickle Power right into kids’ hands” with these new gloves for kids 18 months and up. Activate Dance mode by pressing Elmo’s nose (on the mitt) and when the kid touches something, the hand will vibrate and start playing sound effects and phrases. Activate Dance mode by pressing his nose again and he’ll guide your child through Elmo’s new dance, recognizing their movements. An instructional DVD will be included to help with the dance.

They are also bringing back Elmo Live with Elmo Live Encore with additional tricks and songs. Elmo Live Encore will now sing Sesame Street classics like the theme song “Sunny Days,” “Somebody Come and Play” and fan-favorite “Elmo’s World.”

I’ve seen the Elmo Tickle Hands already at my local Walmart but not the new Elmo Live Encore. My daughter’s birthday is at the end of Aug and I would LOVE to get the Elmo doll for her. Hope to see the new one on the shelves soon!